Following last year’s firecracker, career highlight Blues For The Modern Daze, Trout hasn’t paused for breath. Covers albums can sometimes be a stopgap, a chance to ease off the intensity. Not so here, where the unbridled feeling and ferocity on display is a testimony to the ardour of a long-held passion and friendship.
Ever since the passing of his associate Allison in 1997, Trout has had this album in mind. The deep-rooted connection to Allison’s work has evidently only been strengthened by Trout’s own artistic growth in the intervening years.
From the affirmative opener I’m Back, through the socially conscious Move From The Hood and Freedom, Trout plays with a freshness belying his 62 years. The live-and-direct nature of the performances (often done in one or two takes), are a tonic in themselves, and have already resulted in this listener’s Allison reinvestigation. Good work all round.
